Transportation experts divided over MRT system
JAKARTA (JP): The proposed Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system for the capital remains the subject of acrimonious debate, with experts weighing in on everything from the project's economic feasibility to its environmental impacts.
In the latest round of discussion, transportation engineering expert Alan Marino said the government must begin the MRT project as soon as possible, because it not only would address the city's traffic problems but also revive the construction sector.
Alan said Jakarta would always be a large city with millions of residents.
The capital has a population of about nine million, though this figure swells to about 12 million during the day.
"Buses and other forms of public transportation can no longer accommodate the people, and traffic jams are getting dreadfully bad," Alan told The Jakarta Post in a phone interview over the weekend.
An MRT system, he said, would enable people to travel a distance of 20 kilometers to 30 kilometers in less than an hour.
"Now it can take two hours to cover this same distance," Alan said.
The problem, he said, is that the government continues to insist that transportation projects must be as economical as possible.
"They are afraid that if they set the fares too high, people will not be able to afford it. That is not true."
The existing public transportation system is not economical, Alan asserted.
"People often have to change buses, motorcycle taxis and public minivans to reach one place. That costs them a lot but they can afford it. So the point is how to arrange proportional fares."
When the government increased the fares for trains in the city, there was no fall in the number of passengers, he said.
The government has been studying the possibility of constructing an MRT system since 1992, with a view to resolving traffic congestion in the capital.
Governor Sutiyoso has stated the MRT project tops his administration's list of priorities, and has vowed to push the project forward as soon as he receives the approval of President Abdurrahman Wahid.
However, the director for international affairs at Japan's Teito Rapid Transit Authority, Kunio Kawakamian, warned recently that the MRT project has a low feasibility.
But Alan is optimistic the project will yield profits. "This country is certainly in a crisis, but toll road projects, for instance, have proven profitable."
"(The MRT) is indeed a big project, but I believe that investors will come, especially foreign ones."
Alan said he believed the MRT project would revive the capital's construction sector and create a great number of new jobs.
He said a similar project in Chile several years ago created work for some 60,000 to 70,000 people.
Separately, an environmental expert from Bandung's Padjadjaran University, Otto Soemarwoto, warned that the construction of an MRT system could increase flooding in the city.
According to Otto, numerous construction projects in the city fail to take into consideration such factors as if or how the land will settle.
"Engineers often forget to factor into their construction plans how much the land will subside. An example is the toll road in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, where the land has subsided, causing floods every year," he told the Post.
He urged the authorities to take into consideration every angle of the MRT project. "If the whole project works well, we will enjoy many benefits. Traffic jams will decrease and so will air pollution." (hdn)